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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Even if FCPS were to care about prepping, any policies would be unenforceable.  Even in the past when they had an outright cheating scandal, wherein a test prep center got ahold of the actual test and kids memorized the answers to the actual test, nothing happened to the kids who cheated.

The only sensible option is to go with resources for everyone. [/quote]

As the parent of an "actually" gifted kid, this just isn't such a big deal to me.  Kids who are prepped do not change the 132-ish cutoff.  They don't raise the bar.  This isn't New York where there are limited spots.

It's all good.  [/quote]

I agree that it doesn't effect the cutoff, it doesn't change the bar, and it doesn't change whether or not they get in if they prep. However, prepping can make it more clear as to whether or not your kid is in pool or isn't in pool. For the parents out there who hate prepping, I'm going to give the reasoning in favor of it as a whole.

Statistically speaking, prepping doesn't take your kid from a 100 to a 135: it's about a 10 point difference. (see Articles A and B). Because it's a very small difference, you will be able to determine whether or not you kid is clearly in the AAP program. And despite what the websites say: it's very difficult to break from 100 to 135. So if you prep, and your kid gets a 124, you can make the choice of either going a) retaking the test and getting a WISC because they should be at 134 and had a bad day or b) hope they get in on their GBRS and really should be at 114. Regardless, it's not a huge difference in score, it's a difference in outcome and work for you as a parent.

As short term prepping takes about 30 days and is free, this isn't a huge financial burden. But I think a lot of parents as, well, if my kid does get 134, does that mean he/she is gifted? Nope: it just means that they tested well, on that day, in that study. More importantly, you will not have to get anything else because you are in pool and you will not have to do anything else.

It's like the SATs: think about when you took your SATs. Did you prep? Did your score change by greater than 10%? Probably not. But it is no different for your kid to prep for the Cogat vs. the SATs. So prep. Do it online for free. Don't worry about the outcome because if your kid didn't get in after prepping, they are most likely where they are "supposed to be" in FCPS.

FWIW I prepped, my kids did the same statistically on all of the practice exams, and got the same score at school.  But because I prepped, I felt better about the score as a whole: I had no doubt. And that's the reason why prepping is not as "evil" as people think it is. It gets parents to CTFD.

(Article A) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3950413/
(Article B) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.01005.x[/quote]

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